Romanian film festival kicks off in Washington this week

The Romanian Film Festival in Washington, D.C will line up for this year’s edition six feature films and documentaries, each accompanied by introductions, post-screening discussions, and Q&A sessions.

The event, organized by the Embassy of Romania to the United States and the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York, will take place from November 13 to November 16 at AMC Georgetown 14.

The selection of films, presented under the headline New Romanian Perspectives, is curated by film critic Mihai Fulger.

The festival will also feature special guests, including actress Daniela Nane (Comatogen) and director Tudor D. Popescu (Nasty), who will join audiences for conversations and Q&A sessions following selected screenings. Director Teodora Ana Mihai (Traffic) will meet the public online.

Traffic, the art heist drama, written by Romanian auteur Cristian Mungiu and directed by Teodora Ana Mihai, will open the event. The film, starring Anamaria Vartolomei, Ionuț Niculae, and Rareș Andrici, follows a group of Romanian immigrants in Belgium who decide to pull off a robbery that could change their lives forever. It is inspired by the 2012 theft of paintings by Picasso, Monet, and Gauguin from a Dutch museum. The film is Romania’s submission for the 2026 Oscars in the Best International Feature Film category.

The program also includes Mihai Mincan’s Milk Teeth, Lina Vdovîi and Radu Ciorniciuc’s Tata/ Dad, Igor Cobileanski’s Comatogen, Tudor Giurgiu, Cristian Pascariu, and Tudor D. Popescu’s Nasty, and Bogdan Mureșanu’s The New Year that Never Came.

Now in its sixth edition, the Romanian Film Festival in Washington, D.C. is meant to “reaffirm the vitality and creative power of contemporary Romanian cinema.” More on the program here.

(Illustration: the organizers)